Gate Crypto Flash News and Market Updates

On Friday, August 21, gold ETF led market gains with a 1.95% increase, followed by Dow ETF up 0.98%, Russell 2000 ETF up 0.77%, and Emerging Markets ETF up 0.75%. U.S. crude oil fund gained 0.58%. Year-to-date, crude oil fund surged 89.97%, with Emerging Markets ETF and Russell 2000 ETF each up 23.32%. Nasdaq ETF rose 16.41%, S&P 500 ETF gained 12.89%, and gold ETF up 6.83% since the start of 2026.

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, recommended on Friday that investors allocate between 10% to 15% of their portfolio to gold and "a bit of Bitcoin" to mitigate risks from potential debt crises and geopolitical conflicts. Dalio predicted that a U.S. debt crisis could occur within three years if current fiscal trends continue.

On Friday (August 21), U.S. sector ETFs closed broadly higher, with the Biotechnology Index ETF and Healthcare ETF rising 1.29%, leading all major sector funds. Discretionary Consumer ETF gained 1.15%, while Global Aviation ETF rose 1.06%. Among decliners, Utilities ETF fell 2.31%, Semiconductor ETF dropped 0.4%, and Energy ETF declined 0.17%. Year-to-date, Semiconductor ETF leads with a 55.62% gain, followed by Energy ETF up 44.30% and Biotech ETF up 26.65%.

According to Bloomberg, the Bloomberg Electric Vehicle Price Return Index rose 1.76% to 3,514.69 points on Friday, August 21. The index gained 0.30% for the week, displaying a V-shaped recovery pattern.

According to NH Investment & Securities, the brokerage projected South Korea's KOSPI index trading range at 6,400-7,500 for the coming week on August 22. The forecast hinges on Nvidia's earnings release scheduled for August 27, which analysts view as a critical inflection point for the broader market direction.

State Street's Metals and Mining ETF rose 4.1%, reaching its highest level since June 2026.

This week, U.S. stock indices posted declines, with the S&P 500 falling 1.3%, the Dow Jones down 0.8%, and the Nasdaq 100 declining 2.1%. Semiconductor-related indices led losses, with the semiconductor index down 5.5% and storage chip index dropping 5.2%. On Friday, markets partially recovered. The S&P 500 rose 0.5%, with materials up 2.3% and utilities down 2.2%. In the Nasdaq 100, Tesla surged 5.2% and Strategy gained 6.2%, while Intel declined 2.3%, Arm Holdings fell 3%, and Marvell Technolo

U.S. stocks fell this week, with the S&P 500 down 1.3%, Dow Jones down 0.8%, and Nasdaq-100 down 2.1%. Semiconductor and memory chip indices declined 5.5% and 5.2% respectively. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5%, with materials up 2.3%, healthcare and financials each up at least 1%, and technology flat. Nasdaq-100 gained 0.4%, led by Tesla up 5.2% and Palantir up over 2%, while Intel, Arm Holdings, and Marvell Technology fell 2.3%, 3%, and 5.6% respectively.

According to Jin10, crude oil prices rose at the close on August 22. WTI October futures climbed 23 cents to $87.06 per barrel, up 0.26%; Brent October futures advanced 61 cents to $94.39 per barrel, up 0.65%.

Earlier this month, SpaceX announced plans to build its own gas-fired power plant in Texas. To support this initiative and manage growing fuel and power needs, the company is now hiring a natural gas trader to build and lead an internal trading team focused on physical and financial natural gas transactions. The move underscores the importance of self-sufficient energy supply to SpaceX's core operations.

According to Walmart, the retailer will begin offering tap-to-pay options including Google Pay and Apple Pay at select U.S. locations starting August 24, 2026. Alphabet Inc. confirmed that Google Pay will be available at select Walmart and Sam's Club stores, with Apple Pay reportedly also included. Walmart plans to expand the service to all U.S. stores by year-end 2026 and to gas stations by mid-2027.

On Tuesday, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) entered consent orders imposing five-year trading bans on former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, according to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Ellison also received a 10-year registration ban, while Wang received an eight-year registration ban. CFTC enforcement director David Miller said the orders reflected Wang's and Ellison's material assistance in the Commissi

According to Bloomberg Grains Index, CBOT corn futures rose 5.17% this week to $5.0825 per bushel on the August 21 close. CBOT soybean futures climbed 4% to $12.4025 per bushel, while soybean meal futures gained 3.16%. Wheat futures added 1.52% to reach $7 per bushel. The Bloomberg Grains Classification Index rose 0.32% Friday to 33.1859 points, with a weekly gain of 3.39%.

According to Google Quantum AI's March 31, 2026 whitepaper, breaking Bitcoin's elliptic curve cryptography (ECDSA 256) requires fewer than 500,000 physical qubits, approximately 20 times fewer than previously estimated in 2019. The research identified roughly 6.9 million BTC, about 32% of total supply, sitting in wallets with publicly exposed keys vulnerable to quantum attacks, CoinDesk reported. Bitcoin developers proposed BIP 360, a quantum-resistant address standard using Pay-to-Merkle-Root o

Moderna and Merck announced on Wednesday (August 19) that their mRNA therapy successfully halted recurrence or spread of melanoma in over 1,000 patients during late-stage clinical trials, lifting the healthcare sector to its best weekly performance since June 26. The healthcare index rose over 4% for the week through Friday (August 21). Moderna's stock surged over 9% on Friday, while Merck advanced more than 2% during the same period.

According to the U.S. State Department, on August 21, the United States approved the sale of 103 AIM-9X Sidewinder BlockII air-to-air missiles worth $125 million to South Korea. The package also includes 10 tactical guidance sets and related equipment and services. The State Department said the sale will enhance South Korea's air defense and deterrence capabilities.

According to OpenAI, the company will reduce API and credit pricing for GPT-5.6 Sol by over 20% within the next three months. The API is now available for use, with gradual rollout to eligible ChatGPT Work and Codex credit plans. Pricing for Pro, Plus, and Business subscriptions will remain unchanged.

According to Kalshi, gold has just surpassed U.S. Treasury securities to become the largest reserve asset held by central banks globally.

According to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), speculators on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) reduced their net short positions in natural gas by 3,405 contracts during the week ended August 18, bringing the total to 66,836 contracts.

According to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, WTI crude oil futures speculators reduced their net long positions by 3,584 contracts to 102,274 contracts for the week ending August 18.